Relationships influencing organisational culture in men's elite football clubs in Norway.

This paper examines the relationships within and outside organisations that have the leverage to influence culture in the context of men's elite football clubs in Norway. Participants from three clubs held positions as Performance Director (n=2), sport psychology practitioner (n = 3), and physiotherapist (n = 2) and participated in semi-structured interviews focusing on the relationships, tensions, and dynamic organisational forces in their respective clubs. Using reflexive thematic analysis, we developed two overarching themes showing (1) Organisational cultures in time frames and (2) Relationships among stakeholders influencing organisational culture. Developing these themes indicated that an organisational culture is not only a point of arrival, but also a point of departure for future activities. Hence, those charged with organisational culture work must maintain awareness of the influence of a club's history and how it influences dynamic tensions with stakeholders within and outside clubs. It is also critical that cultural practitioners are mindful of players' and staffs' individual journeys, which influence how they self-organise into fluid and temporary subgroups. The findings can sharpen our understanding of working with culture in elite football by emphasising other sources of culture besides leaders' attempts at controlling or steering it in their preferred way. Using the findings provided in this study can help practitioners recognise organisational tensions or slippage towards cultural problems before they lead to traumatic organisational crises. [Abstract copyright: Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

The gradual normalization of behaviors which might challenge ethical and professional standards in two British elite sports organizations

We examined how two elite British sports organizations began accepting behaviors that might challenge ethical and professional standards. The data for the current paper came from two separate ethnographic studies. We used Alvesson and Einola’s Functional Stupidity to analyze the data for processes of a lack of reflexivity, lack of justification, and a lack of substantial reasoning presented in three vignettes for each case organization. We then carried out a cross-case analysis and showed that periods of significant change are high risk for the spread of unethical and unprofessional behaviors. The common rationales for accepting such behaviors were (a) you have not spent time in the trenches, (b) it has always been like this, (c) policing space, (d) I am just doing my job, and (e) giving opportunities to those close to me. Our findings suggest a sense of banality to wrongdoing where normal people slipped into ethical problem areas

Balancing sport and academic development: Perceptions of football players and coaches in two types of Norwegian school-based dual career development environments

Sports-friendly and elite sport schools seek to support pupils by providing balanced support which is intended to facilitate success both in sport and in academic work. This study investigates how ambitious football players in Norway experience the advantages and challenges of undertaking a ‘dual career’ as student-athletes. Eight players and five coaches (two club coaches and three school coaches) in total were interviewed from two sports-friendly schools and two elite sports schools, and the data were analysed using thematic analysis. In the Elite Sport Programmes, the close integration of the school and club settings enabled coaches and student-athletes to plan and manage the overall workload and development of the student-athletes more easily. In contrast, players in the less structured Sports-Friendly Programmes experienced more concerns related to workload coordination but were also given more responsibility for their own decision making. This helped to facilitate better self-determination among the student-athletes but also increased their risk of overuse injuries. Our results indicate how different dual career development environments offer varying benefits, risks and developmental opportunities for student-athletes

A Longitudinal Study of Power Relations in a British Olympic Sport Organization

The purpose was to examine the power relations during a change of culture in an Olympic sports organization in the United Kingdom. The authors conducted a 16-month longitudinal study combining action research and grounded theory. The data collection included ethnography and a focus group discussion (n = 10) with athletes, coaches, parents, and the national governing body. The authors supplemented these with 26 interviews with stakeholders, and we analyzed the data using grounded theory. The core concept found was that power relations were further divided into systemic power and informational power. Systemic power (e.g., formal authority to reward or punish) denotes how the national governing bodies sought to implement change from the top-down and impose new strategies on the organization. The informational power (e.g., tacit feeling of oneness and belonging) represented how individuals and subunits mobilized coalitions to support or obstruct the sports organization’s agenda. Olympic sports organizations should consider the influence of power when undertaking a change of culture